Dear Parish Family,
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The first chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel contains two annunciation accounts, each about the birth of children in impossible circumstances. Elizabeth was barren, so she could not have a child and she was advanced in years. Mary had no husband and she had never had conjugal relations. But after the Annunciation to him, Zechariah is struck deaf and mute, while Mary, initially fearful, accepts peacefully. Let us compare the two: Zechariah: “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” Mary: “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
Reflect on these responses for a moment. 1. Zechariah’s reply, while realistic, is insulting, as if he is saying to the angel, “give me some reason to believe what you are saying. Just to hear you say it is not enough.” This kind of doubt should never have occurred to him. God's voice had already spoken love into his heart throughout his whole life. He will have read from the scriptures about Abraham and Sarah, about the miraculous birth of Samuel. His trust in God’s promise should have been the deepest meaning of his existence. In this sense, Zechariah was already deaf and mute when the Angel spoke to him! He could not receive the words (so was deaf), and therefore would not be able to tell his wife, Elizabeth (so was mute).
2. Mary on the other hand simply asks for clarification. She seemed to know already that “nothing is impossible to God.” Just tell me how this is going to happen and I will gladly do it. Looking at both annunciations gives an insight, too often hidden from us. It helps us immensely to understand Mary’s “inside story”: how she listened with her heart.
How much do you and I listen to the voice of God's promise, which is written in our hearts too, if we let it be. Do our own words just spout out of us without reference to that unwavering love deep within? If so, we may be like Zechariah: hard of hearing when it comes to the needs and beauties of those around us, and speechless when a word of love would make all the difference. Let us ask humbly in these last few days of Advent for the grace to listen and to hear. The one who promised will not fail. Nothing is impossible to Him who can be born of a virgin, walked on water, gave sight to the blind, made the deaf hear, dumb speak and the grave could not hold him buried. So it is our turn to say in faith, ‘Let it be done.’
Fr. Tom Kunnel C.O.